DESCRIPTION (Taken from the application): The Myogenesis Gordon Conferences began in 1992, and have quickly become the focal international meeting for the muscle development field as well as an important conference on the general problem of embryonic cell specification. The first Myogenesis Gordon Conference ushered in a re-emergence of work on the embryology of myogenic development and the next (1995) brought together workers who concentrate on myogenic specification in all its molecular, cellular and embryonic aspects. The 1998 Gordon Conference will continue to focus on these themes while expanding to include presentation of recent and very exciting work on muscle regeneration, cardiac muscle specification , cardiac hypertrophy and the developmental molecular biology of smooth muscle. The informal, format of the conference is specifically designed to encourage a synthesis of information and hypotheses across traditional discipline boundaries. Thus, individuals at the beginning of their careers, or those changing career directions, should find substantial opportunities for exploration within the diverse meeting format. The speakers are chosen not only for their prominence in the field but also for their abilities as articulate thinkers and speakers, who will generate active discussions by integrating their work and ideas with those in other fields. This meeting does not attempt to cover the entire field of myogenesis but is designed to be the highest quality meeting possible on the themes indicated. Moreover, to provide for an eclectic format and vigorous exchange of ideas, speakers have been invited from fields outside those typically represented at previous muscle meetings such as neurogenesis and regeneration. The balanced mixture of promising young scientists at the beginning of their careers and established, senior scientists provides further continuity into the future of this field. About 20% of the speakers are women and the organizers are particularly hopeful to recruit more women speakers in the remaining months prior to the conference. This is also an international meeting, three of the eight session chairs, as well as the keynote speaker, are from outside the U.S. which reflects the worldwide expertise in the myogenesis. Finally, the central intellectual and practical emphasis woven into the fabric of this meeting concerns the evolution of myogenesis and cardiogenesis, since we now appreciate how much can be learned from the similarities in myogenesis in the widely diverse "genetic model" organisms such as fruit fly, zebrafish, and mice and the "embryologic model" organisms such as frogs, chicks and ascidians.